The Hungarian American Coalition continues to support the enlargement of NATO to include all aspirants that satisfy the membership criteria of the Alliance and are willing and able to be providers as well as consumers of security. No aspirant nation should be excluded from NATO solely because of geography or objections from non-NATO states.

The Coalition also firmly believes that security is grounded in a stability that only democracy can guarantee. Accordingly, aspirant nations must grant their ethnic minorities and national communities minority rights to enable them to preserve their cultural heritage, facilitate their full participation in the economic and political life of the state at all levels, and permit them to exercise internal self-determination, such as local self-government.

Further, aspirant nations must protect their ethnic minorities and national communities from de jure and de facto discrimination and not only speak out against manifestations of intolerance, but also take active measures to combat it.

Finally, aspirant nations must demonstrate a willingness to cooperate with their neighbors to the fullest extent possible on all matters of mutual interest to them.

December, 2001